The Blazers had interest in acquiring Carmelo Anthony, but the 10-time All-Star reportedly won’t consider waiving his no-trade clause to come to last season’s eighth seed in the Western Conference. Still, that hasn’t stopped Portland’s stars from attempting to change the small forward’s mind, as Jason Quick of Comcast Sportsnet relays.
“I spoke to him,’’ Damian Lillard said of Anthony. “Because obviously he makes us a better team. So obviously with that being out there and being a real possibility, I don’t see why I wouldn’t reach out to him and let him know the interest is mutual if he is interested in us.’’
Lillard added that he wasn’t going to share Anthony’s response, though he said the two needed to speak because bringing the 32-year-old to Portland was something that he and C.J. McCollum would welcome should the opportunity present itself.
McCollum said he spoke to Anthony through a trainer the two share. The shooting guard added that he’ll be in New York this week to train and he will “say hello to [Anthony] if he’s there.”
“If we get him … when we get him … I think we could be top three in the West, easy,’’ McCollum said. “I think he’s interested. Obviously, I feel he wants to play with his team – the Banana Boat friends. I know he wants to play with CP [Chris Paul] and LeBron, and those are good options, but I feel we are a good option.’’
Anthony is reportedly focused on getting to the Rockets and Houston believes they will end up adding him in an offseason where they’ve already Paul. The Knicks and Rockets were looking for other teams to help facilitate a trade and the Blazers were apparently one of those franchises. However, Portland doesn’t want to help Anthony get to a rival Western Conference team, as the organization believes Anthony could be the missing piece to elevate the team into the West’s upper echelon.
Lillard was hoping to convince Anthony of just that, along with assuring him that he’s wanted on the team.
“He’s Carmelo Anthony,’’ Lillard said. “You add another guy who can score 50. Over the last decade, he’s been one of best players in the league. Playing against him he’s a cerebral player. He’s smart. He played in the triangle. I can only imagine what it would be like to have him isolating on one side, and CJ in the corner, and me in opposite wing and Nurk on the opposite … I could only imagine how tough it would be to guard us.
“I want to win a championship. It’s that simple. After my rookie year I’ve been in the playoffs every year and the playoffs are fun … but at this point we need a breakthrough. I’m tired of watching … each year it bothers me more.’’
Melo, Noah, Thomas and Knicks 2019 1st round pick for Turner, Harkless, Aminu, Leonard and Portland’s 2018 1st round pick? I don’t remember what I mentioned a few weeks ago, but the point remains that Melo would have to waive his NTC and probably, most of his trade kicker. Portland is usually a place people like once they’re there, but I doubt Melo wants to move all the way out there at this point of his career.
Melo, Lillard, and McCollum would be pretty cool. Melo also gives them an option in the half court, which is something they’ve been missing. They would lose a good secondary playmaker like Turner and a good 2 way 4/3 in Harkless, while taking on Bosh, but they’d be getting rid of Leonard, moving Turners money, getting the Knicks 2019 1st round pick to take on Noah, while giving up their own pick this year for Melo, still cutting salary, and addressing defensive issues…they could then look to add some defensive help on the wing, and a backup guard on minimum deals to round out the roster
Wow autocorrect…*Noah not Bosh lol. My phone would not stop autocorrecting for some reason
Not a chance the Knicks move their first round pick.
You don’t know that…
That was Jackson’s modus operandi. It was the only thing he knew how to do right and thought worth keeping him the remaining 2 years of his 5 year contract for.
(Besides draft KP /trade for Willy Hernangomez and 2017 draft. )
Other than being Dolan’s “YES Man”, Mills is unproven as president. I’m a Knick fan and I expect the worst.
Knick fan here as well. But if we go with what he’s (Mills) communicating, draft picks are what digs them out of this mess (especially after seeing how Boston has done it). Mills is a disaster waiting to be proven, but one thing I don’t think the Knicks will do is move their first round draft picks. And if they do…ugh.
Couldn’t agree more with you especially that last part :)
To get a good 4/3 in Harkless on a good contract, get rid of Noah, and grab a 2018 1st round pick? Also, I think Turner would work around the shooters that would be there in that scenario. Grab a couple of lower cost FAs, probably a PG type that can shoot, and a defensive wing, to round out the roster, and it’s not terrible
Turner, Hardaway Jr, Courtney Lee, Moe Harkless, Porzingis
Or whatever PG, Hardaway, Turner, Harkless, Porzingis…Lee, Aminu, Baker, Hernangomez/O’quinn etc off the bench
Obviously Ntilikina gets a chance to develop, and then they have 2 picks in 2018, and perhaps more movable money. Worst case, they have a ton of cap space in 3 years
And get a late first round pick in 2018 for what will most likely be a lottery pick in 2019. Mills may be an idiot, but those lottery picks are the only things that keep him afloat.
As for tons of cap space in 3 years, the Knicks would have that anyway when Noah’s contact expires. And Lee’s before that.
The 1st round pick you get in 2018 gives you 2 this year, which you can use to add more young pieces or possibly in a trade to either add to the team or maybe further shed money if necessary, and the 2019 1st hopefully is a lot worse than the perception of it, if you actually build the team around Porzingis…if you’re going to have money locked up, you might as well use it better. It’s obvious they’re trying to compete, while developing Ntilikina, with Porzingis’ FA situation coming up soon, and the rift with him.
also, as I said, you have more movavle contracts. The issue is that you aren’t ever going to get great value for Melo b/c nobody can take on his salary without giving up money. Getting out from under Noah is also a big win. As I said, worst case scenario is you end up with a lot of cap space in 3 years.
I still would try to build around Melo, now that Phil Jackson is finally gone, but they used all of their cap space on 1 player this off-season. If they’re looking to move him, this is the best scenario I could see them getting that could possibly include Melo accepting a deal. There is no iteration of a deal with Houston or Cleveland that makes any sense. There is very little else the Knicks can really do in a trade for Melo, so if they can get rid of Noah, that money can be used on players that actually fit the roster/could increase their value. The money is going to be locked up regardless.
Personally, I think this is a pretty good trade. Both teams get stuff they want, but both teams have to give up stuff to get it…thats how trades work. You aren’t going to destroy each other
Blazers aren’t gonna want Noah at all. They’re looking to get Melo to get better this year and trade some of the contracts they already have, not take back Noah who would not even break the Blazers rotation at like 18mil a year.
Noah as a backup 5 could help defensively, and give them another playmaker off the bench around shooting. Obviously, they would play 1 big lineups, unlike the stupidity that’s been going on in NY…they can get rid of Turner and Leonard’s money as well…
I’m almost 100% certain that they’d rather have Evan Turner than Noah
They also want Melo…this is a trade. You aren’t going to destroy each other. That’s not how it works
But it’s not a go for broke, give everything up for Melo deal. If they can get Melo, cool. If they have to take Noah’s contract then there’s no point in getting Melo. They’d have no way at all to improve the roster, Noah’s contract would be untradeable (imagine that contract getting traded twice), and the Blazers will still be tied up money wise and not be able to improve the team.
Noah would be a much better fit there though.
I mean trade isn’t terrible. Don’t see why the Knicks would give up melo and there first for a non lottery first and a few average guys with crazy contracts. Could see why Portland would love that. Getting a potential first overall pick and melo for not much seems nice. Don’t see how they would be top 3 in West. No bench with melo coming aboard. Big men are garbage and might be the worst defensive starting five in the league. They had Aldridge and got to the second round. I would say they would be in a similar spot. But even with melo they are nowhere near the warriors, rockets or Spurs. OKC would be better in my opinion too. So melo would get them a first round matchup against one of those 4. Which all four would be favored. But hey fun to talk about.
The Knicks give up their 1st in 2019 b/c Portland takes on Noah, and they get Portland’s 2018 1st rounder, giving them 2 in 2018.
If Portland could sign guys like Tony Allen, maybe bring back a Gerald Henderson/or make another low cost move to address their defense/depth on the wing/at guard, they could throw out a team of Lillard, McCollum, Tony Allen, Melo, Nurkic with Crabbe, Thomas, Noah, etc off the bench, and decent young guys with some intrigue. They should probably be better than the last couple of years.
Portland finally had addressed their bench, and had a deeper team, after the Afflalo trade, before Wesley Matthews tore his Achilles, and they had a couple of other injuries right before that last playoff run with Aldridge. Those teams literally had no bench, and they make the move to fix that and get burned before he leaves. They’d be a lot deeper now if they still had Barton.
I so badly wish we never traded for Arron Afflalo :(
Yeah but if you’re the Knicks the goal should be “get rid of Melo and become better in the long run”. You do that by either getting young high-ceiling assets (players or draft picks) or by dumping bad contracts to free up cap space and signing impactful FA.
In your trade scenario the Knicks get rid of 5/$109 currently on the books but then taken on 11/$129 mil
Also, there is value to a potential #1 pick. It can be to draft a high-ceiling potential all-star or it can be trade bait for either an all-star vet or more picks or a package of both.
In your trade proposal the Knicks take on more salary and contract commitment spread out over 2 or 3 years and 4 players. And you go from a premium talent w/ the #1 overall to a more-than-likely role player/reserve.
They would be better off trading Melo for Turner straight up. Knicks need to be more concerned with cap hold vs total dollars.
ex.. If you just trade Turner for Melo and keep Noah then the cap hold for 2017-18 is about $17 mil for Turner and $18 mil for Noah. You make that larger 6 player trade then the cap hold for the Knicks next year is $17 for Turner, $10 for Harkless, $7 for Aminu and $10 for Leonard is $44 mil.
Smart thing for the Knicks if Melo agreed to go to Portland is to do the Turner + Portland’s #1 for Melo straight up and then work on a buyout for Noah where maybe they offer to pay 75% of his contract for his release.
The only reason to take on those 4 players is because they are still young and might outperform expectations. That’s unlikely with those 4 and it would actually hurt the Knicks chances of getting the #1-3 pick if they did end up being better than simply role players but less than being a star player.
Well…you also have to match salaries. I’m pretty sure Turner for Melo doesn’t work…also, as I said, you have more movavle contracts without Noah, and the team is probably better, b/c it’s deeper, even though you’d lose Melo. The 1st round pick you get in 2018 gives you 2 this year, which you can use to add more young pieces or possibly in a trade to either add to the team or maybe further shed money if necessary, and the 2019 1st hopefully is a lot worse than the perception of it, if you actually build the team around Porzingis…if you’re going to have money locked up, you might as well use it better. It’s obvious they’re trying to compete, while developing Ntilikina, with Porzingis’ FA situation coming up soon, and the rift with him.
The issue is that you aren’t ever going to get great value for Melo b/c nobody can take on his salary without giving up money. Getting out from under Noah is also a big win. As I said, worst case scenario is you end up with a lot of cap space in 3 years.
I still would try to build around Melo, now that Phil Jackson is finally gone, but they used all of their cap space on 1 player this off-season. If they’re looking to move him, this is the best scenario I could see them getting that could possibly include Melo accepting a deal. There is no iteration of a deal with Houston or Cleveland that makes any sense
Why are teams so high on Carmelo, dude can’t play defense and plays ISO ball to be moderately effective. Neither the rockets nor cavs or blazers stand a chance against gsw. If the rockets or cavs could get Anthony Davis without tampering with their cores then they MIGHT have a chance. (This would never happen though)
Melo is what you trade for – offense. Still has a great inside and outside game. If a team is looking for offense, then Melo is your player. It’s not like he was ever a defensive player to begin with. Teams know what they’re getting…
And his ISO ball is damn good.
“Why are teams so high on Carmelo, dude can’t play defense and plays ISO ball”.
You just described several players on the NBA all-star team. And you say ISO player like it’s a bad thing. Mel is still among the top scorers.
Also, the Cavs beat the Warriors before w/o Durant. If the Cavs could acquire Melo w/o trading Love then they at least close that gap a bit.
link to espn.com
Knicks Receive – Eric Bledsoe, Tyson Chandler, Moe Harkless, Ed Davis, 1st round pick from Portland
Blazers Receive – Carmelo Anthony, Joakim Noah & TJ Warren
Magic Receive – Allen Crabbe
Suns Receive – Evan Turner, Elfrid Payton & Bismack Biyombo
Phoenix should get the 1st rounder, and probably another smaller asset from the Knicks, Orlando should have to give up 1 extra asset to go to Portland. Not sure if that’s fair, but maybe I value Bledsoe too high…Otherwise, this deal actually makes sense in some regard, although there is a lot of money moving
*I don’t get why autocorrect included the word smaller in front of asset going from the K picks to Phoenix. If they move Noah without adding anything, and get back Bledsoe and a 1st rounder, just for taking Chandler at a much lower cost and fewer years than Noah, thats definitely in their favor.
Nick Burreci you must certainly be a Knicks fan. They get rid of Noah’s contract while bringing back valuable players and a 1st rounder. Unlikely
What does this do for Orlando? Relieve cap space?
Melo & Lee for Crabbe, Aminu & Harkless!
That’s exactly what I was thinking. Portland might need to include a first though
not even Melo is worth taking on imo the worst contract in the league, Joakim Noah. would be super fun to see all scoring options on the court between Dame/CJ/Melo